Welcome!

Hello All!

I would just like to start off my welcoming you to my first ever blog! I hope this will let me keep in touch with all of you, and let you all share in my exciting new experiences .... I look forward to telling you all about my new life in the Motherland.

With just over 2 weeks until I pack my whole life up and drag it across the Atlantic, I am starting to feel the crunch. I have been running around getting my affairs in order - my new British bank account complete with most of my savings depressingly compressed into Sterling, my British drivers license, student visa - now I just need to get into Cambridge and get my ISIC card.

Everyone's first comment when they see me lately is "oh my god, you must be freaking out" but much to both my and their confusion, I am not. I am alarmingly composed - perhaps the most content I have felt in my entire life. I remmeber a distinct "panic of nostalgia" before leaving for MHC back in 2004 - I felt like I had to drink in every little mundane aspect of my life, becasue "who knows if I will ever get to do this again ...." would creep into even the most routine tasks. I felt like I had to eat in every favorite restaurant, walk down every favorite street, watch every favorite movie on my parents living room couch, and see every friend while doing our favorite things - out of some fear that I would never get to see/do those things again in my life. I was only moving to the other side of the state, but it is funny to look back on how I perceived "moving on in my life" then and now. I have never felt so ready open up and try something new - like undergrad was this amazing cocoon and now I am out there and doing what I am supposed to do.

I have been spending the summer popping in and out of NSAH, hanging out in MHD, and trekking all over New England to see friends before I move - I spent a crazy week down in CT and NYC seeing Dan and Tex, and two lovely days visiting Liz at Princeton - God, I am going to miss my MOHOs. I spent 2 days up at lake Pleasant in NH with Darcy, who will hopefully (*fingers crossed*) be joining me in vet school next year - she even got me out on the lake in a kayak (yes, that is right, I can kayak..... sort of).

On Saturday I will make one last drive down to Pike to my Alma mater (I am old enough to have an Alma mater? ) It still seems odd to me that I am not just driving back to start classes in smelly old Clapp again - it still feels like my school - maybe it always will. I am thrilled to see Tex and Dan again before I go. I might even get to see my roomie too - it is really going to feel like old times back at Holyoke. I will keep you posted on how our impromptu 2.5 month reunion plays out ....